Block A upgrades

“I quit! I just finally memorized all the equipment for Star Hornet and Hayabusa and then those stupid brain boys just had to make more! Why isn’t anyone happy with what equipment was originally manufactured?”

-Equipment officer telling his boss off after being told he had to memorize even more equipment after the block A upgrade program was put in place.

Even with the multitude of equipment already available for both the Star Hornet and Hayabusa, many pilots found their mechas lacking in punch and versatility when facing more and more tougher opponents. The replacements for both the Hayabusa and Star Hornet were not scheduled for another 20 years and so a stopgap solution had to be proposed for the near future. What the Ares force designers came up with was a multitude of new and experimental equipment which would even the playing field in terms of firepower and versatility.

Star Hornet equipment

Main

New and heavier weapons to deal with tougher and tougher opponents. Many of these weapons would push the Star Hornet into medium and in some cases heavy class in terms of firepower.

(Left to right)

Classification: Space use assault rifle

Nickname: Storm rifle

Attachable: No

A trusty new gun for Star Hornet pilots to use. It mated a 45 mm auto cannon with an under slung unguided PAR launcher. It was an effective main weapon, which could take down lightly armoured mechs or even heavier thanks to the PAR.

Classification: Space use pile bunker device

Nickname: Big pointy

Attachable: No

An effective close in weapon that gave Star Hornet pilots an actual close combat weapon. This weapon used compressed hydrogen to create an explosion that drove a 4 meter long metal spike straight into a target. This usually guaranteed a kill if not some severe damage. The only downside was the pilot had to get real close to use this weapon. A usual tactic was to have squad mates distract the unfortunate victim and have the pile bunker equipped Hornet sneak around to the enemy’s rear. The amount of uses ranged from 10 uses (when only charged to punch thru light mechs) to 1 use (charged to punch thru capital ships hull).

Classification: Assault gun cluster

Nickname: flash and boom

Attachable: No

Consist of 1 small-bore laser cannon and 4 nano-missile launchers. A good all round weapon, which was a welcome addition to the Star Hornet arsenal.

Classification: 30 mm gatling gun cluster

Nickname: woodpecker

Attachable: No

4 30 mm gatling clusters and little else. Could shoot enough lead to rip apart groups of light space fighters, light mecha and really, really damage the paint job of anything heavier. Good for taking care of many large groups of light enemies.

Classification: Attack blade and pile bunker

Nickname: Gutting knife

Attachable: No

A very, very deadly close in weapon that could scare even heavy mecha pilots. The attached pile bunker was not as powerful as Big pointy but could damage most mechs. The blade was made of the finest duratanium and had vents along its edge, which could spout out plasma. All in all a very sharp blade that could cut thru most armour with ease. If that wasn’t enough the blade was mounted on a pivot which was hydraulically activated which meant that after the first thrust the blade could be canted a full 90 degree to further the damage. It could also be canted before an attack and retracted to open up bigger wounds. Lastly if it wasn’t obvious a target could be impaled with the blade and the pile bunker could be then fired at the impaled enemy. Possibly the best melee weapon available to Star Hornet pilots.

Classification: 80 mm grenade launcher

Nickname: Magnum

Attachable: No

An unusual shaped weapon pod this weapon fired out highly charged 80 mm grenades. The destructive potential was even higher then the 90 mm RPG launcher (blamer) that was standard issues. Good weapon just not enough ammo.

Classification: Nano-missile pod

Nickname: Skittles

Attachable: yes

The newest ordinances development by Ares force scientist. It is essentially the smallest missile that could be produced. It had 75% of the range of a normal micro-missile but the same amount of punch. This was thanks to a small but powerful plasma warhead. This meant that each tube could cram in as much as 10 missiles. This meant each pod had 90 missiles in total! The only bad thing was that all the other forces “borrowed” the blue prints for this missile and incorporated the ordinances in their own designs.

Experimental

Meant to give the Star Hornet more versatility many of these weapons were a little bizarre. Since the Star Hornet had arms why not give the Star Hornet some actual weapons that needed to be grasped? Still the arms and hands were a little too clumsy to wield any of these weapons effectively. Good practise to test the creativity of Grand alliance scientist.

(Left to right)

Classification: Battle lancer

Nickname: Snakey knife

Attachable: No

An experimental close combat weapon this equipment could act like a lance, or a “snake” blade if the situation dictated it. Very hard to control and use, many pilots could not use it to its full potential.

Classification: Grapple hook

Nickname: Sticky fingers

Attachable: yes

This was a grapple hook, which could be used to grab far away objects and reel them in. The uses were only limited to the pilot’s imagination. Still many pilots wanted another gun or explosive rather then this relatively non-offensive weapon.

Classification: Light hand carried assault rifle

Nickname: Little storm rifle

Attachable: No

An unfortunate attempt to give the Star Hornet a graspable rifle. The hands were too clumsy to wield this weapon with any accuracy and so it was a wasted design. It was armed with a 30 mm auto-cannon and a small grenade launcher.

Classification: Magnum pistol

Nickname: Little magnum

Attachable: No

A small powerful pistol. This wasn’t too bad for the Star Hornet to wield it was only the recoil that was bad. Not really liked or disliked this weapon pod would only be kept around for completeness sake.

Classification: Beam katar

Nickname: Stabby

Attachable: No

A decent close combat weapon it was only inhibited by the stubby, clumsy Star Hornet arms.

Special

Made for the ace pilots of Star Hornets these weapons were extremely deadly. Once used many pilots refused to go back to “normal” ordinances.

(Left to right)

Classification: Remote weapon assault pod

Nickname: RC (remote controlled)

Attachable: No

A very devastating pod used as a straightforward gun cluster or a very tricky controlled remote. Not very easy to control only the most spatially aware pilots could use it effectively. Armed with: 1 wide barrelled fryer (useable as a remote), 4 tube nano-missile launcher, and dual 30 mm gatlings.

Classification: Stinger and defender shield system

Nickname: S & D (Stinger and Defender)

Attachable: No

The Stinger was a multi use weapon system, which turned the Star Hornet into a deadly opponent. Consisting of 1 multi use 120 mm autocannon and 1 fryer/ beam lance/ medium induction beam cannon. The 120 mm autocannon could either fire very rapid shots that could rip apart medium mechs or very slow sniper rifle like charges that could destroy a heavy mech if the pilot was lucky. Unfortunate down side to this was that it only had a magazine of 30 rounds. The beam portion of the weapon could fire very rapid (2 shots a second) fryer blast, act as a beam blade for stabbing or slashing and charge up (2.5 seconds) and fire a beam that could take down a medium mech. The defender shield system, which was always paired with the Stinger, was an extremely powerful shield that gave the Star Hornet the shielding of a medium mech. In addition to this it also housed nano-missile and micro-missile launchers.